Saturday, January 5, 2008

Copper Skull Pendant made by Skull-a-Day creator Noah Scalin

This was an awesome piece that Noah had asked for my help on for his Skull-A-Day project. He came up with the image of this cool skull and I helped him create it from copper sheet. This was a great project and I had a blast teaching Noah how to work with metal! I will be making a limited edition of 5 of these in sterling silver and selling them for $300 each. Please email me for more details or you can Buy Now by selecting the button below.

8 comments:

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!? i'm a metalsmith, and ur telling me that for a small pierced cube of sterling silver (looking to be no thicker than 20 gauge, but i'll GIVE you 18 gauge at most. Also, probably with dimensions of 1 inch x 1 inch x 1 inch) that was soldered together is worth 300 dollars!! from this picture, ur piercing job isn't even exceptional(and for 300 dollars, it damn well should be)--i'm sorry, i'm not here to rag on you, but that is a RIP OFF and a half...it doesn't even look like ur offering a chain to go along with it. nothing. Ridiculous. The sad part is: is that i'll bet u'll actually get away with selling that craft piece.....not even art. just a craft piece. made from sterling.....for 300 dollars.You know, i recently heard that a well known international artist sold a huge heart, i think made out of fiberglass, the size of a wrecking ball, for 3 million dollars. there was nothing to it. it didn't even look like a real heart--just generic. Obviously the name was bought, not the piece. but still...this little tid bit just seemed relevant.

I think it is well know the value scale between artist and appreciator is silently understood. What is fair market value for an artist's emotions, creativity, and willingness to be criticized by strangers? Or how much is too much for a piece that speaks to me..wakes a place inside that has only known silence? If we limit art to "what it's made of" are minds can never get passed it being just a shiny box..Sure the Mona Lisa is just paint and canvas, but with closer look we are able to see more than its simplist parts (priceless). Their is a difference between artistry and carpentry!?! Just a thought from the other side...

Give me a break - $300 for a hand made item in an edition of only five is not that much, really.

As a metalsmith you should recognize that 90% of everything in the small metal craft world is way underpriced compared to other handmade objects of a similar skill level and time commitment. Maybe this item seems expensive compared to other silversmithing you've seen, but come on. How many times have you gone to coffeeshops and "art bars" and seen sad-ass paintings retailing for $300 - $500? If you want to bitch about something bitch about that.

I won't be buying one of these because -like you- I don't care for the design or the craftsmanship, but if I were going to start making and selling my own handmade "skull cubes", you can bet I'd charge close to $300 for one.

the one in the picture is copper, the 5 series will be silver..... while not 300 dollars worth of silver im sure, the work will be detailed and probably worth it to someone who appreciates the artists vision.

Wow. Sometimes the ignorance is overwhelming. You want cheap and generic, go to walmart. First of all, the copper cube was not made by Carra. It was made by Noah. He's a fantastic designer but he's not a metalsmith. Do you sell your work for the cost of materials only? Don't you have skill and creative vision? Maybe not. Craft is not a dirty word and calling something art doesn't make it any better. We artists and craftsmen and women deserve fair pay for our artistic vision, our skilled labor and our time. We create out of a labor of love, not to sell to someone who just wants something as cheap as he/she can get it. It's craft, it's art, it's beautiful.

I have a skull pendant I wear that has a moving jaw! I think it's the best ever... But pewter is pewter... The first time I went to NY city (From Halifax NS Canada) I stumbled onto this piece and wore it every day after... Then the part the chain connects too wore away and it fell off... I was devastated (Ok, not devastated but really upset)I got the skull pendant from a store in NY city called: Toho Shoji'sTel. (212)868-7465 FAX (212)868-7464 @ 990, Sixth Avenue New York N.Y. 10018, U.S.A (A GREAT bead store in general) for $1.25! It is a mass produced piece and may have to do with something I am unfamiliar with (someone once said it looked like a bands logo) But I Loved it enough to go back to the same shop the next time I was in NY and that time I bought 12!! Now if one breaks I go to my jewelry box and get another one!! ( I have also given a few to close friends)

My point is that I enjoy this skull so much and wear it everyday (it is MY cross) I have always toyed with the idea of getting a "real" one made for me... Cast out of something else, a more permanent solution... I expect if I commission it it will cost quite a bit of $$ (Which I do not have) But there are options! I can go to a fancy Jewelry store, or I can go to the art college...

Be creative, it's a big world... If you put your want out into the world, and your patient but proactive you will get what you are looking for...

I do love the fact that you could roll that one like a die... The top is on top, there's a left and right side, a front... It is very beautiful!!

"smitz5429" The item in question is a limited edition of 5 made of silver. Of which, each one is made by hand. While it is obvious that there isn't 300 dollars worth of silver in the object, you are however buying the object based on the fact that it is a LIMITED EDITION creation by a an artist. With LIMITED EDITION being an important factor here. This means that the artist will not be making any more of these items, and therefore the items when collected over time may increase even more in value as the artist becomes more widely known. The price of art isn't about how much the materials cost that go into them, the price of art is the intrinsic value that is placed upon it by the collectors who buy it. For example, a painting by the artist Jackson Pollock is worth millions of dollars, but the basic monetary cost of the canvas that it is painted on is worth perhaps $30.00, and of course there is the fact that the paint that may have cost an additional $20.00. And while it is obvious that the cost of the materials may be in the range of $50.00 the value of the painting is still worth millions. Also you stated "i'm not here to rip on you, but that is a RIP OFF", and yet you still did exactly that, you did nothing more than to simply attack the artist and the value of the item in question, and that's really pretty pathetic.

Surprisingly I actually liked it.The skulls do not "frightening" too much and it not adds too much "gorish" overview to the atmosphere by wearing it. In addition- of course, the selected natural color, the bronze, is very flattering, good choice!

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Upon occasion I have been known to teach some jewelery classes at The Visual Arts Center in Richmond VA. Check out the class schedual for The Visual Arts Center at www.visarts.org and look up instructors!

I am also open to one-on-one instruction and studio time. Feel free to contact me if you are interested.